Alitalia resumes flights to South Korea and China. New flights Rome-Seoul and Milan-Shanghai available for sale. Flights to Beijing to resume by the end of 2015.

Beginning June 4th, Alitalia will resume services to South Korea after more than 20 years with a new flight between Rome and Seoul, capital of the fourth Asian economy. In 2013 the trade between Italy and South Korea was around 7.5 billion euro.

On May 1st, in conjunction with the opening of Expo Milan 2015, Alitalia will also inaugurate a new non-stop flight between Milan Malpensa and Shanghai, the largest city of the Republic of China by number of inhabitants. The flight will operate for the duration of Expo Milan 2015.

Starting today, the two new flights are available for sale.

The new Alitalia flights to Shanghai and Seoul will operate with Airbus A330 aircraft configured in three travel classes: Magnifica, Classica Plus and Classica, with a total of 250 seats.

By the end of this year, Alitalia will resume flights to Beijing with a direct flight from Rome. In 2013, the trade between Italy and China was around 33 billion euro.

Silvano Cassano, CEO of Alitalia: “This is a major investment aimed at encouraging incoming tourism, which will support Italian exports in the East, as well as the city of Milan and Expo 2015. But above all, with these new flights, we keep our commitment to revitalise Alitalia by increasing intercontinental flights and destinations".

Alitalia’s intercontinental network has already begun expanding this year with:

· new direct flights

· increased frequency of existing flights

· a new route network to the Middle East, Asia and Australia in partnership with Etihad Airways, through the hub of Abu Dhabi, with non-stop flights from Rome, Milan Malpensa and Venice starting from 29th March.

With this new offering – and with daily flights to Tokyo (Japan) from Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa - Alitalia is poised to become an industry leader between Italy and the Far East.